Punchline
Vindication
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
WE, in the PUNCH, feel fully vindicated by the decision of the Pasig City assistant prosecutor dismissing the libel complaint filed by the Citystate Savings Bank (owned by businessman Antonio Cabangon Chua) against eight of PUNCH staff (and Mr. Jojo Liwag of Decorp) over one legitimate news item imbued with public interest – the bank’s unauthorized use of the city government’s electric meter.
It was plain to see that the complaint had all the markings of unadulterated harassment. Consider these: 1. All eight PUNCH staff listed in the editorial box were impleaded. Normally, only the editor-publisher and reporter (or columnist) are sued. The prospect of having to worry about the fate of eight persons could, indeed, be nightmarish to a small community paper. 2. The case was filed in Pasig City, not in Dagupan where the bank branch is located purposely not only to inconvenience and disrupt our operations but to force us to spend precious publishing funds for out-of-town legal and trial expenses. (Thanks to our lawyer’s advice, we only had to spend hard earned P800 for the case!). 3. The complaint did not include Mayor Belen Fernandez, the PUNCH’s source for its story, to make it appear that the whole story was concocted. 5. Citystate never corrected the story until after 2 months and used it as basis for the complaint. (Simultaneous with the filing of the complaint, Mr. Cabangon Chua unleashed his spokesman Mr. Allan Sison as his attack dog to regularly malign my personal credential and character as a journalist. Mr. Sison was not even coy admitting that he is doing it for his boss).
Mercifully, Atty. Rodney Z. Magbanua, the young prosecutor in Pasig who knows his law, saw through the malicious attempt to gag The PUNCH. His resolution didn’t even find it necessary to point out Citystate’s rejoinder to our affidavits, and instead cited just a few of our arguments from our collective 35 page-counter-affidavit. He bluntly pointed out that Mr. Cabangon Chua’s lawyer did not have enough basis to support the complaint. Worse, citing an elementary rule on venue for filing as one of the reasons for dismissal, he said the case should have been filed in Dagupan! Touché!
In sum, one can easily surmise that the complaint directed by Mr. Cabangon Chua and crafted by Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, his lawyer for the court case on his MC Adore acquisition, was at best a crude attempt not only to attack the walls of press freedom in Pangasinan but to undermine the judicial system and with money and influence.
The dismissal of the case must have stunned Mr. Cabangon Chua because a young idealist prosecutor could not be impressed by his assets and “connections.”
* * * * *
THE MESSAGE. Looking back, there is no mistaking now that it was Mr. Cabangon Chua who personally directed the attempt to harass us. Using a shotgun approach, he clearly meant to send only one message to The PUNCH – that he can create trouble for us if we don’t stop writing about the running controversy surrounding his bank’s operations and his tainted acquisition of the MC Adore hotel property as engineered by the Lim administration.
This was echoed by Mr. Sison himself who repeatedly impressed this upon me during his phone call to me (arranged by our mutual friend Ashok Vassandani) weeks ago. His words: “I will stop only if you will stop!” So, who’s stopping him?
Through it all, Mr. Sison even had the temerity and the gall to suggest in public that if I would only apologize to Mr. Cabangon Chua, he would assure me of the withdrawal of the libel complaint. Tsk-tsk. The guy has a very, very limited understanding of the libel law, the workings of responsible journalism and the right to press freedom. But, I credit him for being good at sucking up to his gullible boss.
If there is anyone who needs to apologize, that should be Mr. Cabangon Chua and he.
They should apologize to Dagupeños for attempting a news blackout and a cover-up about the bank’s defiance of the city government and the tainted acquisition of the MC Adore by Mr. Cabangon Chua.
For this victory for press freedom, we, in The PUNCH, sincerely thank Atty. Harry Roque of Roque- Butuyan & Associates, also known as Centerlaw, an affiliate of the Media Legal Defense Initiative, for believing in us and agreeing to defend us without hesitation, pro bono! Our special thanks to the firm’s Atty. Romel Bagares, a former journalist, who tirelessly crafted our defense that clinched the dismissal in our favor.
* * * * *
WRONG MISTAKE. Clearly, Mr. Cabangon Chua and his cohorts, Mr. Johnny Dayang and Mr. Sison, mistook The PUNCH and the rest of the professional journalists in the province to be complete wimps who can easily be dazzled by money and intimidated by bullies like them.
How sorely mistaken they are.
They tried a take-over of the Pangasinan Press Club by dangling a P.5 M fund and they failed. They even got Guv Spines to install a fake set of press club officers only to be embarrassed after they were stopped by the court.
So, for the sake of the local media industry, I sure hope our Fire Player Gonz Duque will continue to hold the reins of the press club before it gets completely corrupted and run to the ground, dragging everyone down to the sewer.
But, I also have no doubt that the harassment will not end here because Mr. Cabangon Chua (a media owner himself) and his ilk hate press freedom when it gets in their way. I know their kind.
* * * * *
AFTER THE CROOKS. The campaign of the Ombudsman to jail corrupt government officials and employees is definitely bearing fruits. Who would have thought that the Ombudsman would pursue and win a court conviction against a BIR district officer for violating RA No. 1379[1] in a civil case filed by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas (OMB-Visayas).
The regional trial court, Branch 9 in Cebu City ordered the BIR official “to reconvey the amount of P5,73,881.39 after declaring the amount as ill-gotten and forfeited in favor of the State.”
What makes the case more significant in the context of citizen participation was the fact that the case stemmed simply from an anonymous complaint forwarded by DHYP Action Radio to the OMB-Visayas. A fact-finding investigation was launched to gather evidence that the BIR man amassed assets disproportionate to his salary as a public officer.
Ombudsman Conchita Morales is certainly helping win back the faith and confidence of the people in our judicial system. Her recent decision to file cases against former Deputy Ombudsman for Luzon Mark E. Jalandoni and former Assistant Ombudsman Nennette M. De Padua for tampering with official documents boosts this effort.
Jalandoni and De Padua face thirteen (13) counts of falsification of public documents and fifty-six (56) counts of Infidelity in the custody of public documents through concealment.
Both were found to be systematically tampering official documents that were already reviewed and signed by approving authorities (including former Ombudsman Gutierrez), “by superimposing or “patching” the signatory portions thereof with pieces of paper bearing Jalandoni’s name, making it appear that Jalandoni was the approving authority.”
So, let’s hear it from Pangasinenses. Start reporting your local public officials and government employees in your communities who have obviously amassed ill-gotten wealth!
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
